Labour's plans for new towns plans will focus on ‘high-productivity areas' with ‘good growth and employment prospects' but will only ‘gear up' in the next Parliament, the Government's taskforce chair has reportedly said.

Former Birmingham City Council chief executive, Sir Michael Lyons, revealed in an interview with a national newspaper that the plans – part of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's pledge to build 1.5m homes ‘within five years of a Labour government' – would only ‘gear up' five years from the 'point at which the report lands'.